Monday, August 5, 2013

GOP Governors Against Holding Obamacare Hostage

Worried about the potential impact on the fragile economies in their
states, Republican governors this weekend warned their counterparts in
Congress not to shut down the federal government as part of an effort to
block financing for President Obama’s health care law.

A range of Republican governors, including some who have refused to
implement elements of the health initiative in their states, said in
interviews that a standoff in Washington before the new fiscal year this
fall could backfire on the party if it is seen as being responsible for
bringing the government to a halt.

“I have made the case that Obamacare is not good for the economy, but I
have some real concerns about potentially doing something that would
have a negative impact on the economy just for the short term — I think
there are other ways to pursue this,” said Gov. Scott Walker of
Wisconsin, who hosted about half of the country’s governors here for the
summer meeting of the National Governors Association.

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The Republican divide on just how far they should go to torpedo Mr.
Obama’s signature domestic achievement is increasingly becoming a
stand-in for the broader party dispute between purists and pragmatists.

A group of Tea Party-aligned
senators — like the potential presidential prospects Senators Rand Paul
of Kentucky and Ted Cruz of Texas — are pushing their fellow
Republicans in Congress to oppose a stopgap measure that would keep the
federal government running after Sept. 30 if it includes financing for
the Affordable Care Act.

But many Republicans, including high-profile conservatives like Senator
Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, fear that Mr. Obama and the Democrats will only
benefit in the 2014 elections from a doomed effort to block spending on
the new law because Congressional Republicans would bear the blame for
the subsequent shutdown of the government.